>Step by step
Simulating the EMS Battle patch
1 Take a listen to the file 1. VCS3_Battle. wav. This was made by copying the original Battle ‘dope sheet' on a recentlycalibrated VCS3 MkII and doing a bit of minor real-time knob-twiddling while recording the results. Obviously, all VCS3s and Synthis will sound a bit different to one another, but it gives a good idea of what we're looking for.
2 Fire up Voltage Modular Nucleus and hit that New button in the upper left to wipe the slate clean. If your Library isn't open, click the Library button up top to reveal your modules. The Battle patch is an exercise in filtered and modulated noise, so scroll through the Library until you find the Noise Generator module and add it to your rack.
3 We said ‘filtered' noise, so that should be your next clue: you're going to need a filter module. Find the Filter in the Library and drop it into your rack. This is a state-variable filter and by default, it's a 24dB filter. It's not quite as raw and squelchy as the diode ladder filter on a Synthi, but it'll do.
4 Look at the Noise Generator. See the White Noise jack? Click, hold, and drag on it to run a patch from that jack up to the Filter's Audio In jack. You'll need to control the amplitude of the signal, so go back to the Library and find an Amplifier module. Add it to your rack. Click and drag on the module header, moving it a little to the right of the Filter.
5 Next, run a patch cable from the Filter's low-pass output jack (the one in the bottom-left of the Filter) over to the Amplifier's Input jack. Now, find the Main Outs panel up top. See the jack labelled 1L(M)? Patch the Amplifier's Output jack to it. You can now use the Amplifier's Gain knob to control the volume of the filtered noise. Try it out.
6 Note that no actual filtering is taking place yet, as the Filter module's controls are all in their default positions. Turn the Amplifier's Gain knob all the way down, as you'll be modulating that function with some other modules, the first of which will be an Envelope Generator. Find it in the Library and add it to the rack, just to the left of the Amplifier.
7 This is a typical ADSR envelope, and very different from the Synthi's unusual Trapezoid envelope. However, we'll have to make do. Patch a cable from the Envelope Generator's Env Out jack to the Amplifier's CV In jack. The Envelope will now determine the volume level of your sound. Try clicking the Envelope Generator's Gate button.
8 Nudge the Envelope Generator's R (for ‘Release') slider up to well over 4000 ms. Normally, we'd lash this envelope to incoming signals from a keyboard controller. Instead, we're going to bring in an Oscillator module. Add one to the rack and set its Range to Lo. This causes it to behave as an LFO or Low Frequency Oscillator rather than a sound source.
9 Cable the Oscillator's Square wave out to the Envelope Generator Gate In.
The envelope is now triggered (and gated) by the oscillator. Use the Oscillator's Pulse Width to adjust the on/off time of the gate. Reduce the Oscillator's Frequency down. Add a Mini LFO module and patch its top Triangle jack to the Oscillator's Frequency Mod jack.
10 Turn the Oscillator's Freq Mod knob up full, and the Mini LFO's top Rate knob nearly to nil to vary the Oscillator's rate. Now, back in the Filter, crank the Cutoff knob down to about 4000Hz and the Resonance to 12% or so. Let's add another Oscillator. Set its Range to Lo and send its Saw wave to the Filter's Freq Mod 1 jack. Mod 1 Amount should be 125%.
11 Add a Spring Reverb module and another Amplifier. Click/hold the first Amp's Output to add a second cable and stretch the new cable to the Reverb's L(M) jack. Send the Reverb's Left (M) Out to the new Amp's Input and the new Amp's Output to the Main Out 1R jack. Patch the second Osc's Saw out to the new Amp's CV In. Nudge the Amp's Gain.
12 Let's add a third oscillator, again set to Lo. Its Frequency should be -3.00.
Send its Saw output to the second Oscillator's Frequency Mod jack and crank the Frequency Mod's knob full. If you like, you can modulate the first oscillator's Pulse Width with another oscillator or LFO. Tweak the Reverb mix control for the final touch.